The largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War took place on Turkish soil on Thursday evening. Almost right up until the seven planes landed on the runway, with 24 prisoners on board, few knew that anything was going to happen. Here, Mikhail Mikushin gets off the plane in Russia after two years in Norwegian captivity. In his hand he holds a Joker bag. Photo: Sergei Ilyin / Reuters But Norway had a hand in the game. One of those that Russia got was the Russian spy arrested in Tromsø, who was actually due in court in a month’s time. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre tells news that he spoke with President Joe Biden yesterday, but will not go into detail about the negotiation process. Led by the US’s special envoy A very small group in the Norwegian government, the security services, the foreign affairs and justice administrations have known about the negotiations, says the foreign minister to news. – Even though this has been predicted for a long time, there is always the most excitement at the end if everyone succeeds in what they have promised, Espen Barth Eide (Ap) tells. – The preparations had to be kept secret, and we have actually managed to do that to a large extent. Roger Carsons has gained celebrity status in the United States as a hostage negotiator. Photo: Jose Luis Magana / AP According to what news learns, it is Roger Carstens who has been Norway’s contact person in this case. Formerly employed in the US special forces, Carstens was first appointed as presidential envoy for hostage negotiations by Donald Trump when he was president. Carstens has been nicknamed “Captain America” in the US, and has become a trusted figure among families of Americans imprisoned abroad. Here Carstens (h) meets two of the released prisoners, journalists Alsu Kurmasheva in Radio Free Europe (m) and Evan Gershkovich in the Wall Street Journal (v). Photo: Kaylee Greenlee Beal / Reuters Russia received an offer last autumn The first offer to extradite four Russian agents from countries in Europe was already made by the USA in November, the Wall Street Journal reports. Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says that he also supports this timeline, and adds: – That Mikusjin could be considered for this has been clear for a long time. In this sense, we have been involved in conversations about this for a long time. – For the last couple of weeks, I have assumed that it would happen around the time it did, with a certain nervousness that something could go wrong at the last moment. So it was very good to get the confirmation. Evan Gershkovich hugs mother Ellen, with discharged military veteran Paul Whelan in the background. Gershkovich’s return has received a lot of attention in the United States. Photo: Nathan Howard / Reuters The New York Times, for its part, wrote that the decisive date was June 25. Then a group of employees in the intelligence service CIA will have had a secret meeting with Russian counterparts in a capital in the Middle East. Among the prisoners to be exchanged were four Russian agents or suspected agents in Europe. Two were arrested in Slovenia, one in Poland, and therefore one in Norway. Nothing new for the State Attorney General Fredrik Ranke says that Nast had advised the Attorney General that Mikusjin should be prosecuted. A decision from the Attorney General was expected in August. Photo: news In order for Mikusjin to be extradited, the Norwegian prosecution also had to agree to release the suspected Russian spy. Therefore, Frederik G. Ranke at the National State Attorney’s Office (Nast) has also known about this for “several months”. Ranke is the responsible public prosecutor in the espionage case against Mikusjin and has had a dialogue with PST about the case. – We have been well aware that, in a case a few years ago, Norway received assistance from our allies in getting a Norwegian out of a Russian prison, he says to news. – Now we were in a position to give something back. So we are very satisfied with this solution. Spionsikta Mikusjin (f), here at a bar in Malaysia. Photo: Privat / Facebook Ranke still says that Mikusjin would probably be in court in a month’s time, if he had stayed in Norway. – I can now come out and say that the Police Security Service (PST) proposed to prosecute him for gross intelligence operations, and we had submitted to the Attorney General that he should be prosecuted for attempted gross intelligence operations. – It was expected that there would be a decision from the Attorney General early in August. Putin’s price: A Russian assassin Ever since 2021, Putin has privately asked for one person to be extradited: Vadim Krasikov. But it was not up to the United States to deliver this man. The Russian was imprisoned in Germany for life after the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili near a playground in Berlin two years earlier. Georgian Khangoshvili was hit by three shots, near a playground in daylight. Krasikov was arrested only a minute later, according to the New York Times. The murdered Georgian had been associated with the separatist movement in Chechnya. Germany expelled two Russian diplomats in the same year, when it became known that Moscow could be behind it. Photo: CHRISTOPH SOEDER / AFP A possible extradition would cost German Prime Minister Olav Scholz dearly, as it was a purely political defeat for Germany. According to the New York Times, Scholz initially agreed to a swap that included Krasikov, as long as Russia would hand over jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny. “I’m doing this for you,” Scholz said to Biden, according to several American media. On 16 February, however, Navalny died in a Russian prison. But in February, Scholz traveled to the United States, and the leaders finally agreed, writes the WSJ. Even then, the agreement on a Norwegian extradition was on the table, according to the newspaper. When Krasikov got off the plane on Russian soil, he received a hug from President Putin. Behind him came the Russian spy who worked as a researcher at the University of Tromsø. Krasikov and Putin are said to have known each other for a long time, and have been photographed together at a shooting event. Here, Putin takes him by the hand after the extradition. Photo: Mikhail Voskresensky / AP The day after the extradition, the Kremlin confirmed in a press conference that Krasikov worked for the FSB. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said that the agreement was negotiated between the FSB and US intelligence. He would not say what determined which prisoners they brought home. Published 02.08.2024, at 21.09
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This happened behind the scenes before the historic prisoner exchange – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
